Here we have World War II Logan in hand. Near as I can tell, this is a wholly new sculpt from the ground up. Maybe it might have been reused from a prior G.I.Joe Classified figure or some vintage soldier that came with an era-appropriate Captain America, but between the proportions and the Marvel Legends-specific engineering, this has to be new in general and not just new to Legends. As one would expect with military clothing like this, the uniform is somewhat baggy yet carries a reasonable level of gear to keep him armed, from pouches for his bullets and nourishments to a dedicated sheath for his knife. While there isn't much in the way of paint apps, especially for a figure that is meant to represent the toils of war, I appreciate that they managed to paint the strap on the helmet to go with the rubbery piece. I also appreciate that the colors are murky enough to fit the militaristic
His head sculpt is depicted with the screaming expression, which is fine, but I wish we can do a similar approach to the McFarlane 1989 Joker with the hat and hair being swappable parts. Still, the yelling expression is perfectly suitable for a berserker barrage dude. His articulation consists of a slightly limited double ball peg on the meck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation, vertical hinges for the trigger finger hands and horizontal hinges for the other hands, limited ab crunch and waist rotation, ball jointed hips, thigh rotation, double jointed knees, boot rotation, ankle hinges and pivots. While he has claw hands, they have bolts where they come out and wrapping around the palms likely to hide the fact that Wolverine is a mutant. That being said, the bone claws being part of his past prior to the Weapon X program is a retcon after Magneto violently ripped the adamant out of his skeleton. Who knows what Wolverine's true past is like, especially with how old the mutant himself is.
As for the alternate accessories, the alternate head he has features greasy hair that makes him look a bit emo, so he may need to get a slight trim. Also, the knife is always a treat to have if he's going to sneak up on a Nazi and stab them good, but is it me or is his hand slightly oversized? Could be the way the trigger finger hand makes the knife feel even smaller than it really is. As for his other weapon, it is a decently painted submachine gun that matches the ones used during WWII. He even has a left fist, though I wish he had a matching right fist. Still, a good number of accessories on a figure like this makes me more than happy, especially when some figures that are previously released only come with one extra pair of alternate hands (cough TASM2 Spider-Man) or nothing at all (cough Superman Returns).
The most logical comparison we can do is to put Worldwarverine with the Star Spangled Man with a Plan, Captain America (the MvC version). Putting these two together makes me so happy to have two characters who definitively were involved in WWII, especially since the origins or other characters who came out at the height of the events may have not been involved anymore via retcons. While Cap (along with Bucky Barnes) certainly teamed up with the Namor the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch, there have been times where he and Logan worked together long before the former would be a member of the Avengers and the latter would serve as part of the X-Men. As for the figure in question, Logan is awesome. In an era where most figures are skipped for being cheap or lazy, this version of the character proves the benefit of cherry picking
And as for Hank McCoy, this version of the character design gives the Beast a spandex-typenof suit that only goes up to the pecs and shoulder blades. He's gotta flex his body somehow. While I like that the shade of yellow is reasonably not-cheap looking and the black doesn't have any areas clashing with any parts that are either painted that color or molded in it, I wish the blue fur was given a wash to accentuate the textures and make his overall appearance less cheap and plasticky. Thankfully said blue fur doesn't interfere with the detailing going over the gauntlets of his costume. As for the proportions, the figure could use a bit more bulk for the shoulders as well as having a broader chest; we'll get into how he stacks up with the classic Jim Lee era design, but so far, I find the figure to be decent but no as good as he could currently be.
His head sculpt is almost good with the more feline facial structure contrasting his more traditional look comparable to the cast of Disney's Gargoyles. However, the lack of deco beyond the eyes and somewhat with the nose and mouth ruin any separation between the bare skin and the fur surrounding his face. As for the articulation, it's mostly the same as Logan's, but he has the outdated disk hinge joint for the neck, butterfly joints that mostly help with backwards motion, and his torso articulation includes a reverse ab crunch as well as a diaphragm joint. While it's commendable that Hasbro didn't try to break up the sculpt of the costume that much, would it have hurt to try and do a double ball peg torso system instead? Most companies do that and it would be nice to see them commit to something similar. As for one of his alternate heads, it is one of him roaring or yelling in battle, which looks much better than the neutral face. At least my copy's arms don't come off like they have with some other fans.
As part of the mini-comic gimmick, he comes with an accessory representing one of the issues from the Astonishing run, which would be nice for some action figure photography, though white plastic would make more sense, and as I always say with these, a digital comic to download would have been nice. Even with the decrease of accessories beyond the same card and base with Page Punchers, at least the comic makes most releases easier to stomach for the price hike they have.
And now we have him next to his traditional counterpart. While. Would love to see the 90s design with a darker shade of blue, I prefer the sharper face sculpt and the slightly taller height on him than what we have with the Astonishing version. Thankfully, I will excuse them on this: they didn't have to paint his nails since the design has the fur covering them up to begin with. Plus, unlike most comic-wave figures out there, I can see a bit more bang for your buck with a taller figure than most of the wave, not to mention being a new sculpt. He's more Maximum than the Maximum line! Much like Wolverine, if you can get him for a cheaper price than what Hasbro wants you to consoom, then you can do much worse. It's not as good as WWII Logan, but both figures make me feel happy with giving the line some attention when it deserves it.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (WWII Logan)
⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Astonishing Beast)
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